Jays s-Jays Earphones in Review – One Quick Bumble Bee

Jays from Sweden joined the earphone market in 2006 with the balanced armature earphone, d-Jays. Since then, their engineers have been busy creating new technology and designs for their products. Later, they introduced the dynamic driver, j-Jays and the dual balanced armature, q-Jays that we tested in May 2009. Today, we have the s-Jays, an earphone that uses a new technology dubbed, ‘siren’, which refers to armature drivers which work similarly to moving coil drivers (dynamic). The drivers are designed to maximize low frequency performance and allow for high volume output without distortion. Jays has taken this technology and put it in their s-Jay, for the reasonable sum of $89.99.

Accessories Our previous experience with Jays earphones is that they come “JAM PACKED” with accessories! The s-Jay is no exception and comes with with a 90cm extension cord, 5 pairs of silicone sleeves (XXS, XS, S, M, L), a pair of memory foam sleeves, gold-plated stereo splitter, gold-plated flight adapter, 4 pairs of filters, and a leather carrying case. All the accessories are of good quality (even if the carrying case is a bit too small). Otherwise, the s-Jays is extremely well-outfitted.

Fit I didn’t find a problem with obtaining a comfortable seal. However, I can see why many might have trouble – the body of the s-Jays is quite large compared to other earphones. Due to its size, the body may push against the back of the concha (outer curve of the ear) causing discomfort and difficulties with getting a proper seal.

Despite this, I found a great fit and a fabulous seal with the s-Jays. They are not the most comfortable earphone to wear, but seal well with excellent sleeves which are perfectly stiff and well-shaped.

Audio I quickly found that classical and other orchestral music types aren’t the best fit for the s-Jays. So I moved on to rock, heavy metal, trance and hip pop music. I went through my entire playlist and all I can say is… fabulous… simply fabulous!

Highs The highs on the s-Jays are slightly on the dark side, lacking the detail that I prefer in a earphone. In fact, the amount of detail, clarity, and the crispness of the s-Jays belies their armature driver – a design which often pulls high frequencies into focus. The s-Jays’ high frequencies could be noted as similar to those presented from a darkly-voiced dynamic driver: lacking some detail, clarity and crispness. I would recommend a product from Etymotic or Ultimate Ears if treble is what you are looking for.

Mids Mids are smooth, detailed, and warm for an armature earphone. The mid frequencies of the s-Jays are similar to Shure’s sound signature – perfectly warm and smooth, but lacking a portion of the detail that Shure earphones are famous for, and which I crave. Vocals are strong and deep, revealing the finer details and body of a singer’s voice. Depth is very good on the

s-Jays, providing an enveloping, full-body experience. For the price, I have nothing really to complain about other than just a little detail – the s-Jays simply sounds wonderful.

Lows This is the best part of the s-Jays! Lows are quick, accurate, and precise without muddy, overly “boomy” presentation. Power is just right; not too much, not too little, a power that flat out rocked with rock and pop and even trance! If you like these genres, the lows are absolutely perfect. Overall, the lows on the s-Jays are quick in the thumps, but carefully tread around the other frequencies, retaining accuracy.

Soundstage I expected a very wide soundstage due to the fact that the s-Jays siren drivers are supposed to perform in a similar way to dynamic drivers. However, in the price range in which the s-Jays is marketed, I was rather disappointed. The soundstage isn’t as wide or long as I would’ve liked. I could describe their stage presentation like listening to a recording of a live performance through nice speakers rather than sweating, screaming with the rest of the fans with the music circulating overhead and all around at the concert. Overall, the s-Jays’ headstage is more compact than some dynamic earphones, but performs well when comparing it to lower-priced armature earphones.

Quality We always expect a high quality build from Jays; we got it. Earpiece construction is very good with a smooth finish which is topped off by rigid housing materials. The cables are TPE coated, light, durable, and filled with Kevlar. They also perform excellently when playing sports or running since microphonics are minimal.

Plugs are stress relieved with Jays’ typical, but strong soft rubber. For overall build quality, the s-Jays receives a mark of 95/100. The only complaint I have is that the s-Jays hasn’t any stress relief around the ear-pieces. Fortunately, the cables connecting the earpieces are not stressed much for the majority of uses – a fact which is due to the shape of the housing and fit.

Conclusion The Jays s-Jays is a brand new earphone, with brand new technology that we like very much and highly recommend to listeners of Pop, Rock, Metal, and Trance music. They may not have the best highs, but the mids are very good and the lows are absolutely fabulous for the price: accurate, quick, and powerful! Build too, is of superb quality with durable, class-leading cables. Jays are famous for packing excellent accessories into their products, a fact which has the s-Jays crushing a closet of useful accessories into the cardboard box. TouchMyApps has no other choice but to grab these bumble bee-like earphones!